International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 105 (2017) 237–251

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International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijhmt

Experimental study of the pressure drop during condensation

in an inclined smooth tube at different saturation temperatures
Adekunle O. Adelaja, Jaco Dirker, Josua P. Meyer ⇑
Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X20, Hatfield 0028, Pretoria, South Africa

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Several applications exist in industry where condensation does not occur in horizontal or vertical tubes
Received 26 March 2016 but in inclined tubes. Examples are aeroplanes during take-off, landing and banking, automobiles and
Received in revised form 16 September trucks driving over hilly terrains and large industrial A- and V- frame condensers. However, very little
2016
work has been done for condensation in tubes at different inclination angles, and most work was done
Accepted 29 September 2016
for flow in horizontal tubes and vertical tubes. The few studies that were conducted for flow at different
inclination angles were limited to saturation temperatures of 40 °C. Previous work showed that the sat-
uration temperature of condensation influences the heat transfer and pressure drop results. Therefore, it
Keywords:
Condensation
was the purpose of this study to experimentally study the pressure drops during condensation in inclined
Pressure drop tubes at different saturation temperatures. More than 700 condensation experimental data points were
Frictional pressure gradient collected with the refrigerant R134a in a smooth copper tube of inner diameter of 8.38 mm for vapour
Inclination qualities ranging between 0.1 and 0.9. The mass fluxes varied between 100 kg/m2 s and 400 kg/m2 s
Inclined smooth tube and measurements were taken at saturation temperatures of 30 °C, 40 °C and 50 °C. Inclination angles
R134a ranging from
90° (downward flow) to +90° (upward flow) were considered. The pressure drops were
measured with a differential pressure transducer connected to the inlet and the outlet of the test section
over a length of 1.704 m. The frictional pressure drops were also determined by using a recently devel-
oped void fraction drift model. It was found that the pressure drops were significantly influenced by the
inclination angle and saturation temperature. The void fractions and frictional pressure drop results also
showed that they were largely influenced by these parameters. While the highest and lowest measured
pressure drops were obtained during the upward flow and downward flow respectively, the results
obtained for the void fraction and the frictional pressure drop showed that the highest pressure drop val-
ues were obtained during the downward flow, while the lowest values were obtained during the horizon-
tal and upward flows.
Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Several studies have been carried out on two-phase pressure

Good heat exchanger designs can contribute immensely to
energy efficiency especially in the air-conditioning and refrigera-
tion industry, hydrocarbon processes, chemical plants, thermal
plants and power generation plants. Design engineers are inter-
ested in both the pressure drop and heat transfer characteristics
of these heat exchangers. These characteristics are important
because a balance is required between obtaining desirable low
pressure drops to reduce pumping cost and required surface area
for heat transfer. Therefore, during the design and optimisation
of heat exchangers, such as in condensers in which two-phase flow
occurs, an accurate estimation of the pressure drop is essential.
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: josua.meyer@up.ac.za (A.O. Adelaja), jaco.dirker@up.ac.za
(J. Dirker), kunle.adelaja@up.ac.za (J.P. Meyer).
drop [1–3]. Very few of these studies were done on pressure drop
in inclined tubes [2,4], because most of the studies were on vertical
and horizontal flows. Quiben and Thome [3] categorised the works
done on predictions of pressure drop into three categories:
empirical correlations, analytical models and phenomenological
models. In their work, several studies were reviewed under these
three categories. They further proposed flow pattern-based models
to predict frictional pressure drop. The earlier established
correlations of Lockhart and Martinelli [5], Chisholm [6], Friedel
[7], Gronnerud [8] and Muller-Steinhagen and Heck [9] were based
on empirical relations, which are easy to develop and often provide
good accuracy due to the range of databases available for their
development. Although the work of Quiben and Thome [3] was
established for conventional channels, they found that their
models were also useful in predicting pressure drop in mini- and
micro-channels.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2016.09.098
0017-9310/Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
238 A.O. Adelaja et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 105 (2017) 237–251
Nomenclature
g gravitational acceleration
G mass flux
L distance
P pressure
DPTsat pressure difference between two saturation tempera-
tures
Q_ heat transfer rate
T temperature
x vapour quality
Greek symbols
b inclination angle
e void fraction
q density
Subscripts
fric frictional
H2O water
Spatz and Motta [10] used the works of Cavallini et al. [11] and
Choi et al. [12] for their simulations. Their results showed that the
heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop of R290 were 1.4 times
and 2 times that of R410 respectively. Ghodbane [13] simulated a
mobile air-conditioning system using R290, RC270 and R600a as
alternative refrigerant to R134a. The heat transfer coefficient was
calculated from Akers and Rosson’s [14] correlation and the two-
phase pressure drop was estimated from the Dukler et al. [15]
model. Results showed that the refrigerants considered had a
higher heat transfer coefficient but lower pressure drop compared
with R134a.
Phenomenological models that are theoretically based and
which take into account the interfacial structure resulting from
the different flow regimes have also been developed. Some of these
models are by Bandel [16], Beattie [17] and Hart et al. [18]. Tribbe
and Muller-Steinhagen [19] compared some of the leading two-
phase frictional pressure drop correlations using several mixtures,
namely air–water, air-oil and water-steam. They found that the
empirical model of Muller-Steinhagen gave the best and most reli-
able result. In another comparison made by Ould-Didi et al. [20], it
was found that the methods of Gronnerud [8] and Muller-
Steinhagen and Heck [9] were the best followed by that of Friedel
[7]. In a later comparison, Quiben and Thome [3] showed that their
model, which was phenomenological, predicted their experimental
result better than the empirical models.
Several other studies have been done on the effect of saturation
temperature on either or both heat transfer coefficient and pres-
sure drop. Among these is an earlier work of the current authors
[21]. This work reported that heat transfer coefficient decreased
with an increase in saturation temperature. Patil and Sapali [22],
in their experimental study of the condensation of R134a and
R404A in both smooth and micro-fin U-tubes, reported a decrease
in frictional pressure drop with saturation temperature of up to
24% and 46% in the smooth and micro-fin tubes respectively for
R134a and up to 33% and 44% respectively for R404A when the
saturation temperature was varied between 30 °C and 55 °C. Simi-
larly, Kim et al. [23] noted a decrease in pressure drop with an
increase in saturation temperature for diabatic carbon dioxide at
saturation temperatures of
25 °C and
15 °C in horizontal and
vertical smooth and micro-fin tubes of 3.5 mm inner diameter.
Likewise, Cavallini et al. [24] confirmed the findings of earlier
studies with regard to the relationship between heat transfer
coefficient and pressure drop with saturation temperature.
in inlet
l liquid
line lines between pressure taps and transducer
m mean (average between inlet and outlet)
meas measurement
mom momentum
out outlet
sat saturation
stat static
test test condenser
tp two-phase
v vapour
Dp between the two pressure taps
The literature that was summarised above in general shows
that very limited work was carried out for condensation at differ-
ent inclination angles. Furthermore, no previous work has been
done to investigate the influence of different saturation tempera-
tures on pressure drop at different inclination angles. Because pre-
vious studies indicated that the pressure drops depended on
saturation temperature, it is important to investigate the effect of
different saturation temperatures. Most of the previous studies
were done at saturation temperatures of 40 °C. However, many
applications exist where condensation occurs at lower or higher
saturation temperatures than 40 °C and in inclined tubes. Exam-
ples are aeroplanes operating at environmental temperatures of
approximately
20 °C, automobiles operating in climates with
environmental temperatures ranging from
20 °C to 60 °C (gold
mines at depths of more than 3000 m), dry-cooling towers of
coal-fired power stations in South Africa operating in summer
months at environmental temperatures of close to or higher than
40 °C, steam condensers (those used for air-cooling) and some
roof-top industrial air-cooled refrigeration systems.
The only related work that investigated condensation in
inclined tubes at different saturation temperatures was from
Meyer et al. [21]; however, they only reported heat transfer results
and not pressure drops results. Other available investigations on
convective heat transfer during condensation process in inclined
tubes without consideration of the pressure drops includes Nada
and Hussein [25], Akhavan-Bahabadi et al. [26]. Recently also, the
data of the experimental study on heat transfer coefficient done
by the authors of this paper have been used for model formulation
by Aziz and Ahmadloo [27] and Adelaja et al. [28] or to improve
existing correlation by Shah [29,30]. This paper is therefore an
extension of the previous work by the authors because the pres-
sure drop measurements of this study were taken at the same
operating conditions, than the previous work and while the void
fraction measurements of Olivier et al. [31] were taken.
Therefore, the purpose of this study was to experimentally
determine the effect of the flow inclination, mass flux, vapour qual-
ity and saturation temperature on the void fraction and pressure
drops in a smooth circular tube.
2. Experimental Set-up
The test facility used for the study was used in several previous
investigations [2,4,21,32–45] in which the heat transfer
 A.O. Adelaja et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 105 (2017) 237–251 239

coefficients, pressure drops and void fractions were measured at
different inclination angles, including vertically and horizontally
during convective condensation of R134a. Videos were also cap-
tured of the different flow regimes. The measuring methodology
and data reduction methodologies were therefore well established.
The details of how the heat transfer rates, energy balances, void
fractions, qualities, etc. were determined previously will therefore
not be dealt with in this paper, except for the pressure drop
measurements.
2.1. The refrigerant loop
The test rig consisted of a refrigerant loop, operating on a
vapour compression cycle and four water loops (Fig. 1). The refrig-
erant loop consisted of two high-pressure lines (the test line and
the bypass line) and a low-pressure line through which refrigerant
R134a was pumped with the aid of a hermetically sealed scroll
compressor with a nominal cooling load of 10 kW. Refrigerant flow
in each of the high-pressure lines was controlled by electronic
expansion valves.
The test line consisted of three condensers: the pre-condenser,
which enabled flow visualisation and also served as insulators
against axial heat conduction.
A high-speed camera was installed at the outlet sight glass and
was used to capture and record the flow patterns as they did not
alter much between the inlet and outlet. A uniform Phlox backlight
was positioned against the sight glass to enable good colour fidelity
due to its evenly distributed light-emitting diode illumination. Six
pressure taps were connected to the test section, between the sight
glass and test section at both ends. Three of the pressure taps were
at the inlet and three at the outlet of the test section. Four of the
pressure taps were connected to two different pressure transducers
for the measurement of the absolute pressure at both the inlet and
the outlet of the test section. The pressure transducers had an accu-
1
0.9
0.8

Void fraction [- ]
test condenser and the post-condenser. The pre-condenser was
used to regulate the inlet vapour quality into the test condenser
0.7
where test measurements were carried out, whereas the
post-condenser was adjusted such that it ensured that there were
complete condensation and subcooling, i.e. liquid refrigerant xm :
0.6
reached the electronic expansion valve. Subcooling at the outlet 0.25 Olivier et al.
of the post-condenser was between 12.7 °C and 34.7 °C. The bypass 0.5 [31]
condenser was used to control the mass flow rate, temperature and 0.75
0.5 0.25 Bhagwat and
pressure of the refrigerant flowing through the test section. After 0.5 Ghajar [48]
the electronic expansion valve, the high-pressure lines united 0.75
and led to the scroll compressor through the low-pressure line, 0.4
which consisted of the evaporator and suction accumulator. -90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90
The test section was a copper tube-in-tube counterflow heat Inclination angle [°]
exchanger in which the refrigerant flowed in the inner tube and
water flowed in the annulus. It had a heat transfer length of Fig. 2. Comparison of the predicted void fraction values with the model of Bhagwat
1.488 m and an inner-tube inside diameter of 8.38 mm and an and Ghajar [48] with experimental values from Olivier et al. [31] for a mass flux of
G = 100 kg/m2s and a saturation temperature of Tsat = 40 °C.
outer-tube inner diameter of 15.9 mm. The inner tube had a
measured wall thickness of 0.6 mm (±0.002 mm). To ensure that
the flow through the test section was fully developed, a straight
Table 1
calming section, 50 diameters long, was situated at the entrance. Parameters, ranges and variables for the experimental test matrix.
At the inlet and the outlet of the test section were sight glasses,
Parameter Range Variance
Tsat [°C] 30–50 ±0.6
EEV = Electronic Expansion Valve G [kg/m2s] 100–400 ±5
xm 0.1–0.9 ±0.01
DPT = Differenal b [°]
90°–90°
er g ±0.1
Pressure Transducer ns β
nde QH2O [W] 250 ±20
Co DP [kPa]
2–12 ±0.05
Post-Condenser st DPT Pre-Condenser
Te Sight
Glass

t er
g Wa
Cooling Sight
in Stratified-wavy:
Glass ol Cooling
Water Co
Water
EEV Annular-wavy:
Bypass Condenser

EEV Annular:
Cooling
Water
Compressor Intermittent:
Evaporator
Refrigerant Flow
P-2 P -8

Churn:
Suction
Water
Accumulator
Fig. 3. The different types of flow patterns observed in this study and the
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the test rig and test section. In the sketch, DPT terminology used for flow patterns described as stratified-wavy, annular-wavy,
indicates the pressure drop transducer and EEV is the electronic expansion valve. annular, intermittent and churn flow.
240 A.O. Adelaja et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 105 (2017) 237–251

(a) 10
pressure of condensation, from which the average saturation
temperature was also obtained from REFPROP [46].
The remaining two pressure taps at the inlet and the outlet
8 were connected to a differential pressure transducer to measure
Measured pressure drop [kPa]

the pressure drop between the inlet and the outlet during conden-
sation. Care was taken to ensure that the pressure tap holes into
6
the test section had no burrs. The pressure tap holes in the test
section were 0.77 mm, and were therefore less than 10%, as
4 recommended by Rayle [47]. The pressure transducer used for
the pressure drop measurements was calibrated to an accuracy
of ±0.05 kPa. The pressure measuring lines were heated between
2
the pressure taps and the transducer such that the temperature
G = 100 kg/m2s
was kept at about 5–10 °C above the saturation temperature so
G = 200 kg/m2s
0 that only vapour was present.
G = 300 kg/m2s
Flexible hoses were used to connect the pressure taps on the
G = 400 kg/m2s
test section to the pressure transducers so that it could be inclined
-2
-90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90 in any orientation between 90° upwards and 90° downwards. The
Inclination angle [°] pressure hoses were made of nitrile, reinforced with two high-
tensile steel wire braids and covered with synthetic rubber. These
hoses were further insulated with polyethylene pipe insulation to
(b) 12 reduce heat loss.
On the inner tube’s outer wall, sets of four holes were drilled in
10 seven equidistant stations such that at each station, four T-type
Measured pressure drop [kPa]

thermocouples were soldered at the top, bottom and both sides

8
of the tube. Therefore, 28 thermocouples spanned the heat exchan-
ger length and were used to measure the outside wall temperature
of the test section. The refrigerant saturation temperatures were
6
taken at the inlet and the outlet of the test section with another
set of thermocouples. At each location (i.e. the inlet and outlet of
4
the test section), three thermocouples were installed, one each at
the top, bottom and side of the tube wall. All the thermocouples
2 used were calibrated against a high-precision Pt-100 resistance
G = 100 kg/m2s
temperature detector to an accuracy of 0.1 °C. The consistency of
G = 200 kg/m2s
0 the readings at these sections was checked between the saturation
G = 300 kg/m2s
temperature obtained with the absolute pressure transducers and
G = 400 kg/m2s
-2 the saturation temperature acquired from the thermocouples and
-90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90
the difference was found to be less than 0.1 °C at high mass fluxes
Inclination angle [°] (400 kg/m2s and above) while a slightly higher variation was
abserved at lower mass fluxes. This might have been due to the
non-uniformity of the flow patterns encountered for lower mass
(c) 15
fluxes, particularly at the smooth-stratified, stratified-wavy and
intermittent regions. A Coriolis mass flow meter was used to mea-
G = 100 kg/m2s sure the refrigerant mass flow rate in the test section.
Measured pressure drop [kPa]

G = 200 kg/m2s
G = 300 kg/m2s 2.2. Water loops
10
G = 400 kg/m2s
Cold and hot water were supplied by a 50 kW heating and a
70 kW cooling dual-function heat pump respectively. These were
thermostatically controlled such that the cold and hot water tem-
peratures were set to 10–15 °C and 25 °C respectively. The hot and
5
cold water were stored in two 5 000 litre insulated water tanks
before being supplied to the set-up. While hot water passed
through the evaporator, the cold water was supplied to the con-
densers. Water inlet and outlet temperatures were obtained using
three calibrated thermocouples at each station. Coriolis mass flow
0
-90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90 meters were used to measure the water flow rates of each water
loop. In order to determine the heat transfer rates in the pre- and
post-condensers (which were needed for data processing), the
Inclination angle [°]
water inlet and outlet temperatures as well as the water mass flow
Fig. 4. Effect of inclination angle on pressure drop for different mass fluxes for rates in these heat exchangers were also measured.
qualities of (a) 25%, (b) 50% and (c) 75% for a saturation temperature of 30 °C.
2.3. Data acquisition

racy of ±2 kPa for low mass fluxes (100 kg/m2s–200 kg/m2s) and Data from the thermocouples, pressure transducers and Coriolis
±12 kPa for high mass fluxes (G > 300 kg/m2s). The average of the flow meters was collected by a computerised data acquisition
inlet and the outlet pressure was used as the absolute saturation (DAQ) system. The DAQ system consisted of a desktop computer
 A.O. Adelaja et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 105 (2017) 237–251 241

Inclination angle: -90o -60o -30o 0o 30o 60o 90o

G = 100 kg/m2s:

G = 200 kg/m2s:

G = 300 kg/m2s:

G = 400 kg/m2s:

Fig. 5. Effect of the inclination angle on the flow pattern for different mass fluxes for a quality of 50% and a saturation temperature of 30 °C.

(a) 10 (b) 10
x m = 0.25
x m = 0.5

Measured pressure drop [kPa]

Measured pressure drop [kPa]

8 8
x m = 0.75

6 6

4 4

x m = 0.1
2 2
x m = 0.25
x m = 0.5
0 0 x m = 0.75
x m = 0.9
-2 -2
-90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90 -90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90

Inclination angle [°] Inclination angle [°]

(c) 12 (d) 16

14
Measured pressure drop [kPa]

10
Measured pressure drop [kPa]

12
8
10

6 8

4 6
x m = 0.1
xm = 0.1
4
x m = 0.25
2 xm = 0.25
2 x m = 0.5
xm = 0.5
x m = 0.75
0 xm = 0.75
0 x m = 0.9
xm = 0.9
-2 -2
-90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90 -90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90

Inclination angle [°] Inclination angle [°]

Fig. 6. Effect of inclination angle on pressure drop for different mean vapour qualities for mass fluxes of (a) 100 kg/m2s, (b) 200 kg/m2s, (c) 300 kg/m2s and (d) 400 kg/m2s for
a saturation temperature of 30 °C.

Inclination angle:

Fig. 7. Effect of inclination angle on the flow pattern for different mean vapour qualities for a mass flux of 400 kg/m2s and a saturation temperature of 30 °C.
242 A.O. Adelaja et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 105 (2017) 237–251

on which was installed a LabVIEW program written to automati- 10

cally acquire needed data, an analogue/digital interface card,
(a) Tsat = 30 oC
9
shielded cable assembly, signal-conditioning extensions for instru- Tsat = 40 oC

Measured pressure drop [kPa]

mentation (SCXI), transducer multiplexers, terminal blocks, chan- 8
Tsat = 50 oC
nel multiplexers and termination units. The program displayed
7
all measurements, including primary and secondary quantities,
which were monitored until steady state was reached before data 6
was captured. The DAQ system was also used for the heating of the
5
hoses between the pressure taps and pressure transducers.
Steady-state conditions were assumed when no changes 4
occurred for a period of approximately 10 min of the measure-
3
ments of temperatures, absolute pressures, pressure drops, refrig-
erant mass flow rates, water mass flow rates, heat transfer rates 2
and pressure drops. After steady state was reached, the different
1
sensor signals were recorded continuously through the DAQ sys-
tem for a period of two minutes, during which time 121 data points 0
-90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90
were captured of all measurements. In order to avoid noise mea-
surement, the average of the points was used for the calculations Inclination angle [°]
of the parameters of interest.

3. Data reduction and experimental procedure (b) 12

Tsat = 30 oC
11
The frictional pressure drop, DP fric , was determined [20] as Tsat = 40 oC

Measured pressure drop [kPa]

10
Tsat = 50 oC
DPfric ¼ DPmeas þ DP line
DPstat
DPmom ð1Þ
9
In this paper, the results are presented as the measured pressure
8
drop, DPmeas , over the test section as well as the frictional pressure
drop, DPfric . DPmeas was the measured pressure drop over the test 7
section length with the pressure transducer. The pressure difference
6
in the measuring lines due to the height difference resulting from
different inclination angles, DPline , was determined as 5

DPline ¼ qv gLDP sin b ð2Þ 4

where the vapour density, qv , was determined from REFPROP [46] 3

at the measured saturation pressure and correlated against the
2
measured saturation temperature. The gravitational constant, g, -90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90
was taken as 9.81 m/s2, LDP was the measured distance between
the two pressure taps, which was 1.704 m, used for pressure drop Inclination angle [°]
measurements, b was the measured inclination angle of the test
section, which was measured with an inclinometer. The inclination
angle of the test section changed sign depending on the test section (c) 15
orientation. It was positive during upward inclinations (vertical
upward was +90°), zero for horizontal angles and negative (vertical 14
downward was
90°) during downward inclination angles.
Measured pressure drop [kPa]

13
The static pressure drop (caused by the height difference from
Tsat = 30 oC
one side to the other side in the test section), DPstat , was deter- 12
mined as Tsat = 40 oC

Tsat = 50 oC
DPstat ¼ qtp gLDP sin b
11
ð3Þ
10
where qtp was the two-phase density, which was calculated as

qtp ¼ ql ð1
eÞ þ qv e ð4Þ
9

The liquid, ql , and vapour density, qv , were determined from 8

REFPROP [46] at the saturation pressure (and correlated against 7

the measured saturation temperature), while the void fraction
was determined from the newly developed drift flux model of 6
-90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90
Bhagwat and Ghajar [48], which is suitable for inclined passages.
In Fig. 2, a comparison is given of the calculated void fractions Inclination angle [°]
with the Bhagwat and Ghajar [48] model and by Olivier et al.
[31]. The measurements of Olivier et al. were conducted with a Fig. 8. Effect of inclination angle on pressure drop for different saturation
temperatures for a mass flux of 400 kg/m2s at mean qualities of (a) 25%, (b) 50%
newly developed capacitive void fraction sensor [31,45]. The com-
and (c) 75%.
parison shows that a relatively good agreement exists between the
predicted and measured void fractions at vapour qualities of 50% ment and prediction is very good. However, the predictions are
and 75%. For a vapour quality of 25%, at an inclination angle of zero too high for downward inclined flow and too low for upward
degrees (horizontal flow), the agreement between the measure- inclined flow. This is most probably due to the measurements
 A.O. Adelaja et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 105 (2017) 237–251
Inclination angle: -90o -60o
Tsat = 30 °C:
Tsat = 40 °C:
Tsat = 50 °C:
Fig. 9. Effect of inclination angle on the flow pattern for different saturation temperatures for a mean quality of 50% at a mass flux of 400 kg/m2s.
not being accurate at low qualities because it is very challenging to
take accurate measurements if the liquid film is very thin [31].
Lastly, the momentum pressure drop, DPmom , in Eq. (1) was
determined as
" ! ! #
2 ð1
xÞ2 x2 ð1
xÞ2 x2
DPmom ¼ G þ
þ ð5Þ
ql ð1
eÞ qv e out
ql ð1
eÞ qv e in
The mass flux, G, was determined from the measured mass flow rate
and test section cross-sectional area. The qualities were determined
as described in previous works [4,21,49–51].
More than 700 experimental pressure drop data points were
collected. The experimental matrix, ranges and variances in mea-
surements are presented in Table 1, and as in the work of Lips
et al. [4,39,40], the heat transfer rate during condensation was kept
between 230 W and 270 W as indicated in Table 1. This was
achieved by changing the mass flow rate and the temperature of
the water in the annulus. An uncertainty analysis was done for
the measured pressure drop as described by Moffat [52]. The
uncertainties of the pressure drops varied between 0.05 kPa and
0.21 kPa. The highest uncertainty was obtained for a mass flux of
400 kg/m2s, at a saturation temperature of 30 °C, a quality of 25%
and an inclination angle of
60°. At this condition, the uncertain-
ties were 0.156 kPa (0.076%); however, most of the uncertainties
were less than 0.07 kPa (0.05%) for most of the other measuring
points in the test matrix.
4. Results
Fig. 3 presents the observed types of flow patterns encountered
during the experiments and the terminology used in describing the
flow patterns as stratified-wavy, annular-wavy, annular,
intermittent and churn flow. Furthermore, two types of pressure
drops are presented in this paper. The measured pressure drops,
DPmeas , in Figs. 4, 6, 8, 10 and 11, and the frictional pressure drops,
DPfric , in Figs. 16–18. The pressure drop results are complemented
with photos of the flow regimes in Figs. 3, 5, 7 and 9, as well as
with predicted void fractions in Figs. 12–14. The results are pre-
sented in four sections, which discuss the effects of inclusion angle,
vapour quality, saturation temperature and void fraction cum fric-
tional pressure drop.
4.1. Effect of the Inclination Angle on the Measured Pressure Difference
In Fig. 4, the effects of the inclination angle are given on the
measured pressure drop for different mass fluxes of 100 kg/m2.s,
200 kg/m2.s, 300 kg/m2.s and 400 kg/m2.s, at a saturation temper-
ature of 30 °C. In Fig. 4a, the results are grouped for a quality of
25%, in Fig. 4b, for a quality of 50% and in Fig. 4c, for a quality of
75%. In general, it can be concluded that the pressure drop
increases as the quality increases and mass flux increases. For
example, for mass flux of 400 kg/m2s and quality of 25%, most of
the liquid condensate film occured at the bottom of the tube while
243
-30o 0o 30o 60o 90o
thin film appeared at the top. The liquid intermittently rose to the
top of the tube during horizontal and inclined orientations. For this
case the static component of the pressure drop was significant
hence the effect of inclination was substantial. The flow pattern
changed from churn to intermittent and to churn as inclination
angle was varied between
90° and +90°. As quality increased to
50%, the shearing force increased hence the frictional pressure
drop. The liquid film at the bottom reduced while that at the top
of the tube increased hence reduction in the static force. The reduc-
tion in the static and increase in frictional component of the pres-
sure drop caused a reduction on the effect of inclination on these
flows. The flow pattern switched from annular to annular wavy
and annular as the inclination angle was varied between the verti-
cal downward orientation and the vertical upward orientation.
Further increase in the quality to 75%, the shearing force became
dominant and caused the liquid film to be about uniformly dis-
tributed around the circumference as the vapour travelled at the
core of the tube. For this case the flow pattern was annular irre-
spective of inclination which now has little effect on it. Also, the
pressure drop increases as the inclination angle increases from ver-
tical downward to vertical upward tube orientation. This effect is
more profound at low mass fluxes than at high mass fluxes. An
exception is shown in Fig. 4a, at a quality of 25% for mass fluxes
of 100 and 200 kg/m2.s. In general, the pressure drop results are
approximately the same for these two mass fluxes for all inclina-
tion angles except between two ranges; the first range between

10° and +30° and the second range for inclination angles greater
than 30°. In the first range, the pressure drop results for 200 kg/m2s
was higher than for 100 kg/m2s as could be expected due to higher
shear force. As the tube is inclined upward, the average flow
velocity reduces thus reducing the shear forces leading to
increased film thickness, hence higher static pressure but lower
frictional pressure drop. Due to lower flow velocity for mass flux
of 100 kg/m2.s there is a higher liquid holdup hence predominant
static pressure. This results in a higher measured pressure drop
for the mass flux of 100 kg/m2s during the upward inclination.
For qualities of 50% and 75%, in Fig. 4b and c, clear differences were
found in the measured drops, and these differences increased with
mass flux and quality. This could be ascribed to the fact that shear
force increases with quality and mass flux.
Fig. 5 shows the variation of the flow pattern of the results in
Fig. 4b with inclination angle at a quality of 50%, for different mass
fluxes. The flow patterns observed for mass fluxes of 100 and
200 kg/m2s were stratified-wavy during the horizontal and slightly
inclined orientations. For this case, the liquid film is at the bottom
of the tube while the vapour flow at the top but at the liquid–
vapour interface there is a wave due to the interaction between
the vapour and the film. As the tube orientation became vertical
downward, the flow changed from stratified-wavy to churn due
to the presence of Taylor bubbles at the core of the flow, while
close to vertical upward flow, it transited from stratified-wavy to
intermittent then to churn due to the turbulent nature of the flow.
For a mass flux of 300 kg/m2s, due to increased flow velocity, shear
244 A.O. Adelaja et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 105 (2017) 237–251

(a) 4
Tsat = 30 oC
(a) 4
3.5 Tsat = 30 oC
Tsat = 40 oC 3.5
Tsat = 40 oC
Measured pressure drop [kPa]

Tsat = 50 oC

Measured pressure drop [kPa]

3
3 Tsat = 50 oC
2.5
2.5
2
2
1.5
1.5
1
1
0.5
0.5
0
0
-0.5
100 200 300 400
-0.5
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Mass flux [kg/m2s]
Vapour quality [ - ]
(b) 10
Tsat = 30 oC
(b) 9
Tsat = 40 oC
Tsat = 30 oC
Measured pressure drop [kPa]

8
Tsat = 50 oC 8
Measured pressure drop [kPa] Tsat = 40 oC
6 7 Tsat = 50 oC

6
4
5

2
4

3
0

2
-2
100 200 300 400 1

2
Mass flux [kg/m s] 0
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1

Vapour quality [ - ]
14
(c) o
Tsat = 30 C

Tsat = 40 oC 14
12 (c) Tsat = 30 oC
Measured pressure drop [kPa]

o
Tsat = 50 C
10 12 Tsat = 40 oC
Measured pressure drop [kPa]

Tsat = 50 oC
8 10

6 8

4 6

2
4

0
100 200 300 400 2

Mass flux [kg/m2s] 0

0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Fig. 10. Effect of mass flux on the measured pressure drop for different saturation
temperatures with the test section at an inclination angle of b = 0° (horizontal
configuration), for qualities of (a) 25%, (b) 50% and (c) 75%.
Vapour quality [ - ]
Fig. 11. Effect of mean vapour quality on measured pressure drop for different
force increased and the flow was annular-wavy during the hori- saturation temperatures for b = 0 for (a) G = 200 kg/m2s and (b) G = 400 kg/m2s.
zontal and slightly inclined orientations, and annular during the
vertical upward and downward tube orientations. For a mass flux the tube while the vapour flowed at the core) during all inclina-
of 400 kg/m2s, shear force increased and the flow tended to be tions. By comparing the observed flow patterns in Fig. 5 with the
annular (i.e. the liquid film tended to be uniform at the wall of pressure drop measurements in Fig. 4b, it was found that as the
 A.O. Adelaja et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 105 (2017) 237–251 245

(a) 0.88 annular and the pressure drop was higher. The measured pressure
G = 100 kg/m2s drop comprises the frictional, static and momentum components
G = 200 kg/m2s Eq. (1). The momentum component is small compared with the
0.86
G = 300 kg/m2s static and frictional thus they largely influence the measured pres-
Predicted void fraction [ - ]

G = 400 kg/m2s sure drop. The static pressure drop varies with inclination angle as
0.84 the two-phase properties such as density and void fration are influ-
enced by gravitational force. It is thus minimum during the down-
0.82
ward flow and maximum during the upward flow. The frictional
pressure drop is complicated to obtain experimentally thus it is
calculated from Eq. (1).
0.8

4.2. Effect of the Mean Vapour Quality on the Measured Pressure

0.78 Difference

Fig. 6 shows the measured pressure drop as a function of the

0.76
-90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90 inclination angle and mean vapour quality at mass fluxes of
100 kg/m2s (Fig. 6a), 200 kg/m2s (Fig. 6b), 300 kg/m2s (Fig. 6c)
Inclination angle [°]
and 400 kg/m2s (Fig. 6d) for a saturation of 30 °C. During the data
gathering stage, some pressure drop data for low mass fluxes and
(b) 0.94 low qualities were very challenging to collect due to instabilities
G = 100 kg/m2s in the recordings. For instance, at the saturation temperature of
0.935
G = 200 kg/m2s 30 °C, pressure drop measurements were obtained at qualities of
Predicted void fraction [ - ]

0.93 G = 300 kg/m2s only 25%, 50% and 75%, while at a saturation temperature of
G = 400 kg/m2s 50 °C, only the quality of 50% was obtained. This explains why
0.925
some data points at a mass flux of 100 kg/m2s are missing in
0.92 Fig. 6 and later in Fig. 10a–c.
The results in Fig. 6 show that the parameters (inclination angle,
0.915
mean vapour quality and mass flux) had significant influences on
0.91 the pressure drop. For high mass fluxes and qualities, shear forces
were dominant, while the gravitational force was dominant in the
0.905
low mass flux and low quality cases. For the same mass flux,
0.9 decreasing averaging qualities corresponded to increasing effective
density, which resulted in increasing static pressure component,
0.895
hence resulting in higher test pressure differences. Also, an
0.89 increase in the inclination angle caused an increase in the static
-90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90
pressure effect, which was responsible for a higher pressure differ-
Inclination angle [°] ence during upward flow as compared with downward and hori-
zontal flow. The effect of the inclination angle is not significant
for high mass flux and high vapour quality as shown in Fig. 6c–d
(c) 0.98
(G = 300 kg/m2s, xm = 0.75 and 0.9; G = 400 kg/m2s, xm = 0.75 and
G = 100 kg/m2s
0.978 0.9). Furthermore, an increase in the mass flux resulted in an
G = 200 kg/m2s
increase in the frictional component due to the increasing domi-
0.976 G = 300 kg/m2s
nance of the shear force at the tube wall. A closer look shows that
Predicted void fraction [ - ]

G = 400 kg/m2s
0.974 at low qualities (xm = 0.1 for all mass fluxes and xm = 0.25 mass
fluxes of 100 kg/m2s and 200 kg/m2s), negative pressure differ-
0.972
ences were obtained during the downward flows. This phe-
0.97 nomenon was also reported by other researchers [53–60]. In
their works, the phenomenon was attributed to the presence of
0.968 low liquid mass fluxes [55,58–60], instabilities in the flow, which
0.966 resulted in a Taylor flow regime [53], slip flow at the vapour-
liquid interface and liquid-wall interface termed ‘‘flow reversal”
0.964 [54,56,57].
0.962
Fig. 7 reveals the variation of the flow pattern with quality and
inclination angle for a mass flux of 400 kg/m2s. Annular flow was
0.96
-90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90
mostly observed for qualities of 50%, 75% and 90%. At qualities of
10% and 25%, flow patterns were intermittent for all inclinations
except for vertical downward and upward flows. Then the flow
Inclination angle [o] patterns were annular for all downward flows and for upward flow
for a quality of 25%, but churn for upward flow for a quality of 10%.
Fig. 12. Effect of inclination angle on void fraction for different mass fluxes for
mean quality of (a) 25%, (b) 50% and (c) 75% for Tsat = 30 °C.
4.3. Effect of the Saturation Temperature on the Measured Pressure
Difference

shear force became more predominant, the frictional component of In Fig. 8, the effects of saturation temperature on measured
the measured pressure drop increased, increasing the total pres- pressure drops are presented for different inclination angles at a
sure drop. With increased shear force the flow tended to be more mass flux of 400 kg/m2s for qualities of 25% (Fig. 8a), 50%
246 A.O. Adelaja et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 105 (2017) 237–251

(a) 1 (b) 1

Predicted void fraction [ - ]

Predicted void fraction [ - ]
0.95
0.9

0.9
0.8

0.85
0.7

0.8 x m = 0.1

0.6 x m = 0.25
x m = 0.25
x m = 0.5
0.75 x m = 0.5
x m = 0.75
x m = 0.75 0.5
x m = 0.9
0.7
-90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90
-90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90

o o
Inclination angle [ ] Inclination angle [ ]

(c) 1 (d) 1
Predicted void fraction [ - ]

0.9 0.9
Predicted void fraction [ - ]
0.8 0.8

0.7 0.7

x m = 0.1 x m = 0.1
0.6 x m = 0.25 0.6 x m = 0.25
x m = 0.5 x m = 0.5
x m = 0.75 x m = 0.75
0.5 0.5
x m = 0.9
x m = 0.9
-90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90 -90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90

Inclination angle [o] Inclination angle [o]

Fig. 13. Effect of inclination angle on void fraction for different vapour qualities for (a) G = 100 kg/m2s, (b) G = 200 kg/m2s, (c) G = 300 kg/m2s and (d) G = 400 kg/m2s for
Tsat = 30 °C.

(Fig. 8b) and 75% (Fig. 8c). The results are shown for saturation tion angle of 0° (horizontal flow), for qualities of 25% (Fig. 10a),
temperatures of 30°, 40°, and 50 °C. The results show that the pres- 50% (Fig. 10b) and 75% (Fig. 10c). The results are given for satura-
sure drop decreased as the saturation temperature increased, and tion temperatures of 30°, 40° and 50 °C. In general, it was found
that as the quality increased, the pressure drop increased. Further- that at this horizontal configuration, the pressure drop increased
more, that the pressure drops at a quality of 25% were largely incli- with mass flux, decreased as the saturation temperature increased
nation angle independent between inclination angles of
90° to and increased as the quality increased. In Fig. 10a, there is an over-

30°; however, it increased as the inclination angle increased from lap in the pressure drop at saturation temperatures of 40 °C and

30° to +90°. The dependency on inclination angle diminished as 50 °C.
the quality increased from 25%, to 50% and 75%. At a quality of A higher pressure drop was obtained for mass fluxes lower than
75%, the inclination angle has no significant influence on the pres- 300 kg/m2s for a saturation temperature of 50 °C when compared
sure drop. For example, the pressure drop at a saturation temper- with a mass flux of 300 kg/m2s for a saturation temperature of
ature of 30 °C only increased with 12%, from 12.59 kPa at
90° to 40 °C. Similar results were found in Fig. 10b, at a quality of 50%
14.11 kPa at +90°. The reason is that in general the flow regimes and mass flux of 100 kg/m2s. The unexpected results in
become more annular as the quality increases and the saturation Fig. 10a and 10b were most probably not measuring and/or data
temperature decreases. reduction errors because the heat transfer results of Meyer et al.
The flow patterns for the results in Fig. 8b (quality of 50% and a [21] showed a similar trend, though at inclination angle of between
mass flux of 400 kg/m2s) are given in Fig. 9. No significant changes
30° and +10. In this work, the discrepancies were attributed to
occurred in the flow patterns between saturation temperatures of the variation in the thermophysical properties of the refrigerant
40 °C and 50 °C, which were all in the annular-wavy regime. How- with temperature.
ever, the flow patterns, at a saturation temperature of 30 °C, were In Fig. 11, the pressure drop is given as function of quality at an
more annular in nature and that is the reason for the significant inclination angle of 0° (horizontal flow configuration) at different
increase in pressure drop. The flow patterns therefore changed values of saturation temperature for mass fluxes of 200 kg/m2s
with a change in saturation temperature. (Fig. 11a), 300 kg/m2s (Fig. 11b) and 400 kg/m2s (Fig. 11c). The
The effect of mass flux on the measured pressure drop for differ- general trend was that the pressure drop increased as quality
ent saturation temperatures is presented in Fig. 10, at an inclina- and mass flux increased. The exception is in Fig. 11a (mass flux
 A.O. Adelaja et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 105 (2017) 237–251 247

12
(a) 0.84
Friedel [7]

Predicted frictional pressure gradient [kPa/m]

Gronnerud [8]
0.83
+30%
10 Lockhart & Martinelli [5]
Predicted void fraction [ - ]

0.82 Chisholm [6]

Muller-Steinhagen & Heck [9]
0.81
8
0.8
-30%
0.79
6
0.78

0.77 4
Tsat = 30oC
0.76
Tsat = 40oC 2
0.75
Tsat = 50oC
0.74
-90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Inclination angle [°]
Experimental frictional pressure gradient [kPa/m]
Fig. 15. Comparison of experimental frictional pressure gradient with different
0.93
(b) o
Tsat = 30 C
correlations for horizontal flow at saturation temperature of 30 °C.
0.925
Tsat = 40oC

0.92 Tsat = 50oC

and attributed it to the enhancement as a result of the predomi-
Predicted void fraction [ - ]

0.915
nance of the gravitation-dominated flow regime at a saturation
0.91
temperature of 50 °C when compared with the shear-dominated
flow regime at a saturation temperature of 40 °C.
0.905

0.9 4.4. Void Fraction and frictional pressure drop results

0.895
Figs. 12–18 show the effects of inclination angle, vapour quality,
0.89 mass flux and saturation temperature on the predicted void frac-
tion and the resulting frictional pressure drop.
0.885
-90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90
In Figs. 12–14, the effects of each of these variables on the pre-
dicted void fraction are discussed first, followed by the frictional
Inclination angle [°] pressure drops in Figs. 16–18.
The void fraction and frictional pressure drop are very sensitive
to the four parameters under investigation. For the inclination
(c) 0.976
angle, during the upward flow (0° < b 6 + 90°), there is an increase
Tsat = 30oC
0.974 in the thickness of the liquid film due to the decrease in the film
Tsat = 40oC velocity thus leading to a reduction in the void fraction. This
0.972
Tsat = 50oC decrease in the flow velocity during upward flow reduces the
Predicted void fraction [ - ]

0.97 liquid-wall and the vapour-liquid shear stresses leading to a reduc-

tion in the frictional pressure drop. The converse occurs during the
0.968
downward flow (
90° < b 6 0°). For low mass fluxes and low qual-
0.966 ities, during the downward flow, the flow pattern changes from
stratified-wavy to annular at the vertical downward tube orienta-
0.964
tion whereas during the upward tube orientation, flow pattern
0.962 changes from stratified-wavy to intermittent and then to churn
at the vertical upward tube orientation. For these flow patterns,
0.96 the effect of inclination angle is very pronounced. For high mass
0.958 fluxes and high vapour qualities, the vapour shear force has the
dominating effect as it tends to evenly distribute the liquid film
0.956 around the circumference of the flow channel. The flow pattern
-90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90
in this case is annular and the effect of inclination angle is not very
Inclination angle [°] significant. With increase in saturation temperature, the density of
the liquid film decreases, resulting in decrease in the liquid-wall
Fig. 14. Effect of inclination angle on void fraction for different saturation
temperatures for mean quality of (a) 25%, (b) 50% and (c) 75% for G = 400 kg/m2s. and vapour-liquid interfacial stresses hence the frictional pressure
drop [23].
of 200 kg/m2s), for saturation temperature of 40 °C and 50 °C and a Fig. 12 shows the predicted void fractions at different inclina-
quality of 10% and for saturation temperature of 50 °C and a quality tion angles, for four mass fluxes between 100–400 kg/m2s, and
of 25%. Also in Fig. 11b (mass flux of 300 kg/m2s), for a saturation for vapour qualities of 25% (Fig. 12a), 50% (Fig. 12b) and 75%
temperature of 50 °C and qualities lower than 25%. Meyer et al. (Fig. 12c), at a saturation temperature of 30 °C. The average mea-
[21] found this same phenomenon with the heat transfer results sured qualities, and variations in operating conditions (Table 1),
248 A.O. Adelaja et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 105 (2017) 237–251

made it in many cases challenging to obtain measurements at

(a) 8
specific required conditions. These small deviations contributed
2
G = 100 kg/m s
to some of the scattered values in Fig. 12. Thus, for example, for
7 G = 200 kg/m2s
Fig. 12b, a mass flux of 200 kg/m2s, a mean quality of 50% and a
Frictional pressure drop [kPa]

G = 300 kg/m2s
saturation temperature of 30 °C were required. However, the mea-
6 G = 400 kg/m2s
surement was logged at a mass flux of 197.64–205.02 kg/m2s, a
5
mean quality of 0.48–0.51 and a saturation temperature of
30.0 °C. The calculations in Fig. 12 were thus conducted at points
4
where measurements were conducted (which correspond to the
data points in Fig. 4) and not where predictions were required. This
3
is the reason why many of the trend lines are not smooth and have
a scattered display. Therefore, it shows that the model of Bhagwat
2
and Ghajar [48] was in some cases very sensitive to the small
changes between operating conditions where measurements were
1 taken and the required conditions on the graphs.
The result shows that during the downward flow for
0
90° 6 b 6
60°, the void fraction varies inversely to the mass
-90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90 flux, but for b >
60°, the opposite is true. With an increase in
Inclination angle [°] the vapour quality, there is an increase in the void fraction. As
the inclination angle increases, there is a decrease in the void frac-
tion value from the downward to the upward orientation with the
(b) 12 maximum being reached during the vertical downward flow and
the minimum being reached during the upward flow with inclina-
tion range between +60° and +90°. The vertical scatter that is vis-
10
ible in terms of the predicted void fractions is due to the small
Frictional pressure drop [kPa]

variations in actual mean vapour quality from one data point to

8 G = 100 kg/m2s the next within the experimental data set. This is due to the exper-
G = 200 kg/m2s imental difficulty in maintaining the same quality for all test cases
G = 300 kg/m2s (refer to the wide range of experiments conducted in Table 1).
6
G = 400 kg/m2s Fig. 13 shows the variation of void fraction with inclination
angle for different quality values at mass fluxes of 100 kg/m2s
(Fig. 13a), 200 kg/m2s (Fig. 13b), 300 kg/m2s (Fig. 13c) and
4
400 kg/m2s (Fig. 13d), at a saturation temperature of 30 °C. The
void fraction increases with quality as can be expected; however,
2 the predicted void fractions are largely not influenced significantly
by the inclination angle. In general, the void fractions decrease a
little over the inclination range of
90° (vertical downward) to
0 +90° (vertical upward). The exception is for the lower mass fluxes
-90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90
of 100 kg/m2s and 200 kg/m2s, and at low qualities. At a mass flux
Inclination angle [°] of 100 kg/m2s, and for a vapour quality of 25%, the void fraction
decreases with 12%, from 0.87 (at
90°) to 0.77 (+90°). The
decrease in void fraction at a mass flux of 200 kg/m2s, for a quality
(c) 15
of 10%, is also 12%. In general, the conclusion can therefore be
made that the void fractions are not influenced significantly by
the inclination angle for different mass fluxes, except at low mass
Frictional pressure drop [kPa]

fluxes and low qualities. However, although the differences are in

G = 100 kg/m2s
general small, it is known that small changes in the void fraction
10 G = 200 kg/m2s
values have a significant influence on heat transfer rate and pres-
G = 300 kg/m2s
sure drop [20,41,51].
G = 400 kg/m2s Fig. 14a–c present the variation of void fraction with saturation
temperature and inclination angle at a mass flux of 400 kg/m2s for
mean vapour qualities of 25%, 50% and 75%. The results are pre-
5 sented for saturation temperatures of 30 °C, 40 °C and 50 °C. The
results show that the void fraction decreases as the saturation tem-
perature increases. For the temperature range considered in
Fig. 14, a variation in the void fraction of up to approximately 0.1
occurs, when the mean quality is 25%.
Data for horizontal flows were used for the validation of the
0
-90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90 results for frictional pressure drop. In Fig. 15, the experimental fric-
Inclination angle [°] tion pressure gradient results for horizontal flow as calculated using
the void fraction correlation of Bagwat and Ghajar [48] for satura-
Fig. 16. Effect of inclination angle on frictional pressure drop for different mass tion temperature of 30 °C are compared with well-established
fluxes for mean quality of (a) 25%, (b) 50% and (c) 75% for Tsat = 30 °C.
 A.O. Adelaja et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 105 (2017) 237–251 249

(a) 4 (b) 6
x m = 0.25 x m = 0.1

Frictional pressure drop [kPa]

Frictional pressure drop [kPa] 3.5 x m = 0.5 x m = 0.25
5
x m = 0.75 x m = 0.5
3
x m = 0.75
4 x m = 0.9
2.5

2 3

1.5
2
1

1
0.5

0
-90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90 0
-90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90

Inclination angle [°] Inclination angle [°]

(c) 10 (d) 16

9 14

Frictional pressure drop [kPa]

Frictional pressure drop [kPa]

8
12
7
10
6
8
5
6
4
x m = 0.1 x m = 0.1
3 4
x m = 0.25
x m = 0.25
2 x m = 0.5 2
x m = 0.5
x m = 0.75
1 x m = 0.75
0
x m = 0.9
x m = 0.9
0
-90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90 -2
-90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90

Inclination angle [°] Inclination angle [°]

Fig. 17. Effect of inclination angle on frictional pressure drop for different vapour qualities for (a) G = 100 kg/m2s, (b) G = 200 kg/m2s, (c) G = 300 kg/m2s and (d) G = 400 kg/
m2s for Tsat = 30 °C.

empirical correlations of Friedel [7], Gronnerud [8], Lockhart and between the experimental data of void fraction of Olivier et al.
Martinelli [5], Chisholm [6] and Muller-Steinhagen and Heck [9]. [31] and the prediction of Bagwat and Ghajar [48] at low vapour
The figure reveals that the correlation of Muller-Steinhagen and quality of 25% is significant and would have substantial effect on
Heck [9] is the best for our data. Muller-Steinhagen and Heck [9], the calculated frictional pressure drop.
Gronnerud [8] and Friedel [7] predict 75% of the data within ± 30% Fig. 16a particularly reveals that for a vapour quality of 25%, the
while Chisholm [6] and Lockhart and Martinelli [5] account for frictional pressure drop, irrespective of the mass flux, increases
58% and 42% of the data within the same error band. sharply during downward flow to a maximum at vertical down-
Fig. 16 shows the frictional pressure drop, based on the calcu- ward flow (b =
90°). The exception is for a mass flux of 100 kg/
lated void fractions, as function of different inclination angles for m2s, where the frictional pressure drop is the highest at a down-
qualities of 25% (Fig. 16a), 50% (Fig. 16b) and 75% (Fig. 16c), at a ward inclination angle of b =
60°. The minimum frictional pres-
saturation temperature of 30 °C. The results show that the fric- sure drop for all inclination angles, at all mass fluxes considered
tional pressure drop increases with either an increase in the mass for a quality of 25%, is at an inclination angle that corresponds to
flux or an increase in the vapour quality. The trends of Fig. 12a–d horizontal or near horizontal flow (b = 0°). However, as the
and Fig. 16a–d are in general similar, and they show the influence qualities increase to 50% (Fig. 16b) and 75% (Fig. 16c), the mini-
of the void fraction values on the frictional pressure drop. mum frictional pressure drop in general shifts to vertical upward
Furthermore, the profile of the frictional pressure drop is unlike flow (b = + 90°).
that of the measured pressure drop (Fig. 4), which has a maximum Fig. 17 represents the frictional pressure drop as a function of
during upward flow and a minimum during downward flow. For inclination angle and quality for mass fluxes of 100 kg/m2s
the frictional pressure drop, the highest value appears to exist dur- (Fig. 17a), 200 kg/m2s (Fig. 17b), 300 kg/m2s (Fig. 17c) and
ing the vertically downward flow, while the minimum value 400 kg/m2s (Fig. 17d) at a saturation temperature of 30 °C. The
appears to exist during horizontal flow (quality of 25% in general trend of all the four graphs is that the frictional pressure
Fig 16a) or marginally for vertically upward flow (qualities of drop is the highest for the flow in a vertical downward direction
50% and 75%). With an increase in the vapour quality, the effect and decreases as the inclination angle changes to horizontal or
of inclination on the frictional pressure drop becomes less domi- upward vertical flow. Furthermore, the frictional pressure drop
nant due to the reduction in the liquid hold-up, which impacts increases as the quality increases. The difference in frictional
on the static pressure drop. It should be noted that the errors pressure drop between the maximum at (b =
90°) and the
250 A.O. Adelaja et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 105 (2017) 237–251

minimum (mostly for horizontal flow at (b = 0°) and vertical

(a) 8
Tsat = 30oC upward at (b = + 90°) become smaller as the mass flux increases
from 100 kg/m2s (Fig. 17a) to 400 kg/m2s (Fig. 17d).
7 Tsat = 40oC
Frictional pressure drop [kPa]

Fig. 18 illustrates the effect of the inclination angles and satura-

Tsat = 50oC
tion temperatures on the frictional pressure drop for a mass flux of
6
400 kg/m2s, at average vapour qualities of 25% (Fig. 18a), 50%
(Fig. 18b) and 75% (Fig. 18c). The results are given at saturation
5
temperatures of 30 °C, 40 °C and 50 °C. The general trends are that
the frictional pressure drop decreases as the saturation tempera-
4 ture increases. Also that the frictional pressure drop is a maximum
for vertical downward flow (b =
90°) and decreases up to vertical
3 upward flow (b = + 90°) where the frictional pressure drop is lar-
gely the lowest. Furthermore, the effect of inclination angle on
2 the frictional pressure drop decreases with an increase in the
vapour quality if Fig. 18a–c are compared. This can be attributed
to the reduction in the liquid hold-up as vapour quality increases.
1
-90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90 With saturation temperature, there is a decrease in the frictional
Inclination angle [°] pressure drop with increase in the saturation temperature as
explained earlier in this section. Since a decrease in frictional pres-
sure drop will lead to a decrease in the measured pressure drop as
(b) 12 presented in Eq. (1), this can be used to explain the behaviour of
Tsat = 30oC the measured pressure drop results presented in Figs. 8, 10 and 11.
11
Tsat = 40oC
Frictional pressure drop [kPa]

10
Tsat = 50oC 5. Conclusion
9
Many practical applications occur where flow condenses in
8
tubes over a wide range of inclination angles. However, the litera-
7 ture shows that most work was done for flow condensing in a hor-
izontal flow direction or vertical flow direction, and that very
6 limited work was done at other inclination angles. In this study,
5
void fraction and pressure drops were experimentally investigated
in a smooth copper tube of inner diameter of 8.38 mm, length of
4 1.48 m during the convective condensation of R134a subject to
inclination angles varying between vertically downward and verti-
3
cally upward flows, for vapour qualities varying between 10% and
2 90%, mass fluxes between 100 kg/m2s and 400 kg/m2s for satura-
-90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90
tion temperatures of 30 °C, 40 °C and 50 °C.
Inclination angle [°] The effects of vapour quality, mass flux, saturation temperature
and inclination angle were investigated on the measured pressure
drop, void fraction and frictional pressure drop and were found to
(c) 16 be significant. For high mass fluxes and qualities, shear force was
the predominant force and the effect of inclination angle was not
so prominent but or low mass fluxes and qualities, the gravita-
14
tional force was dominant hence the effect of inclination angle
Frictional pressure drop [kPa]

was significant. With increase in quality and mass flux, there is a

12 general increase in the void fraction and pressure drops. Also, the
results showed that the inclination angle influenced the flow pat-
terns, which invariably affected the frictional pressure drop. The
10 highest frictional pressure drop was obtained during vertical
downward flow cases, while the lowest frictional pressure drop
was obtained either at approximately horizontal tube orientations
8
(for lower vapour qualities) or at vertical upward flow inclinations
Tsat = 30oC (for higher vapour qualities). With an increase in saturation tem-
6 perature, the density of the liquid film decreases so reducing the
Tsat = 40oC
liquid-wall and vapour-liquid interfacial shear forces leading to a
Tsat = 50oC decrease in frictional pressure drop as well as the measured pres-
4 sure drop.
-90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90

Inclination angle [°]

Acknowledgements
Fig. 18. Effect of inclination angle on frictional pressure drop for different
saturation temperatures for mean quality of (a) 25%, (b) 50% and (c) 75% for The funding obtained from the DST, NRF, TESP, University of
G = 400 kg/m2s. Pretoria and NAC is acknowledged and duly appreciated.
 A.O. Adelaja et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 105 (2017) 237–251 251

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